The opening line of the gospel reading for the first Sunday in Lent is disturbing to me:

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

We know the story that follows, how Jesus fasted in the desert and resisted the devil’s temptations to turn stones into bread, throw himself from the temple, or worship Satan in exchange for the promise of the kingdoms of the world and all of their splendor. My track record against temptations much less serious than those isn’t very admirable. As Lent begins this year, this has made me realize that perhaps, for me, there’s a fourth temptation in the story which is a better place to start:

Can’t I get by just fine without following Jesus and the Spirit into the Lenten wilderness at all?

Two items caught my attention as Lent started this year, which reflected confusion about what it is. First, the picture above: Perhaps I've never enjoyed looking at a sign at a gas pump as much as I enjoyed this one. Promoted there, alongside the Marlboros and breakfast burritos, is, supposedly, an opportunity to repent and hear a first-century Jewish rabbi's call to deny ourselves, take up our own crosses, and follow him as he walked the road into his own unjust death.

Hey that sounds good. Oh, and let me grab a bag of Doritos to go with my three Lenten cheese enchiladas. As long as they're not meat-flavored, I think the man upstairs is pretty happy with me today!

The other attention-grabber was an article about churches offering drive-thru Ash Wednesday services. There are some good things that happen when churches begin to think beyond the way they've always done things, and much of the beginnings of my own Methodist heritage is based on how John Wesley was determined to preach in places that weren't normal. But still...

"From dust you came and to dust you will return. Repent and believe the gospel... Yes ma'am, that means changing the entire course of your life... No ma'am, getting out of the car isn't required to do so.... Say, is that Lady Gaga you have on the radio?... Okay, have a nice day [living exactly as you always have.]"

In their defense, there's probably at least someone who has had an encounter with God right there in their car because of these churches doing this who wouldn't have otherwise. And I'm sure that I don't know the whole story here, so I'm not offering criticism of these specific churches since I'm not there trying to figure out how to minister in their context as they are doing.

But, in general, the thing that came to mind for me as I read about it was this: our methods of ministering to people in the name of Jesus Christ aren't neutral and independent of the message we seek to communicate. Instead, our methods are part of the training people are going through in what it means to follow him. So, in what kind of training are we involving people when we encourage them to begin Lent without even bothering to get out of the car? Or, to put it another way, what percentage of people receiving an imposition of ashes while continuing to sit behind their steering wheel do we honestly expect to continue, for the rest of their lives, down the road of being whole-hearted, full-throttle students of Jesus? Again, there may be some example of someone to whom that has happened, for which I'm grateful. But is such a case a natural, predictable result of the way we do things with God, or are they just strange exceptions to the rule?

This kind of thing matters all of the time, but it really matters in Lent. Lent is the period of forty days leading up to Easter, not counting Sundays, and Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Lent is a time for house-cleaning our souls, so that when we come to Holy Week and Easter Sunday, we're prepared for the resurrection of the crucified Messiah to take more of its intended effect upon us. It's a time to pay attention to how dis-oriented we have become in the ways that we have lived our everyday lives and to find ways that we can re-orient ourselves to the one who said,

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

So if you and I got into the drive-thru line for our ashes to begin Lent this year, or picked up our Lenten enchiladas at the gas station, or whatever else it is that we may have done during this annual period of repentance and re-orientation, are the things that we're doing of the type that naturally help us, by God's grace, to become more likely and more able to follow Jesus with our own crosses in tow? Or are they things that just help us to feel religious while leaving the houses of our souls exactly as messy and disoriented as they were last Lent, and the one before, and the one before, etc.?

You forgive the iniquity of Your people, and You forgive our sin.
Because we need to hear Your voice, we turn to You with all our hearts today.
You speak peace to us, even when it involves calling us to repentance.
So we pray, Lord, that You would clear our hearts.
Heal our rough places, so that You may dwell more fully in us.

Our lives are not long, but we know that our days are in Your hands.
You care for us like a loving shepherd, feeding us,
gathering us in Your arms, and carrying us home.

Your patience with us is unfathomable,
waiting and giving us chance after chance to repent,
change our thinking and our direction, and come to You.

But do not delay the return of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus.
Use us to prepare the way for His return
as You used John to prepare Israel for His coming.
Until that day, help us to live lives of peace,
spotless and blameless,
as we eagerly await the day when we will see Him,
and be at home forever in His righteousness
in the new heavens and the new earth.

Until that day comes, we will continue to pray
in the words of Him whose sandals we are not worthy to untie, saying:

Our Father in heaven,hallowed be Your name,Your kingdom come,Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trialand deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yoursnow and for ever. Amen

Notes:

The readings for the week, on which this prayer is based, are:

Isaiah 40:1-11: Five of the six Old Testament readings from the beginning of Advent through Christmas Day in Year B come from Isaiah.

Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13: Part of a Psalm that describes a trust in God's deliverance, despite the appearance of current circumstances. It foreshadows the coming of the Messiah and of his messenger ("Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps").

2 Peter 3:8-15a: Peter points his readers' attention toward the day when judgment will come, the earth and heavens will be destroyed with fire, and new heavens and earth will be a place "where righteousness is at home." "While you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace."

Mark 1:1-8: The gospel readings for Year B focus on Mark, and this is the second of two gospel readings in Advent come from this book. This is Mark's introduction to the entire gospel ("The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God..."), and he moves immediately into his account of John the Baptist being the one whom prophecies said would prepare the way of the Lord. John recognized that the Messiah would be more powerful than he was, who would baptize with the Holy Spirit, rather than only with water.

Restore us, O God. May Your face shine on us, so that we may be saved.

You are the Almighty God, who has led Your people throughout the centuries,
yet many of Your children are suffering today
Many are persecuted, lonely, or afraid.
Open the heavens and set things right.

Restore us, O God of hosts. May Your face shine on us, so that we may be saved.

Although You have often seemed hidden or distant,
for so long, You have shown up at just the right time
in the lives of so many who have waited on You.
You have done undeniable things among us.
You are our Father; we are Your children.
You are the potter; we are Your clay.
We are the work of Your hands, and we trust You.

Restore us, O Lord, God of hosts. May Your face shine on us, so that we may be saved.

You came to us long ago in the life of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus.
His grace continues to enrich us in every way.
All that we need to live fully in You is generously available to us through Him,
and we expectantly await the day when He will appear again.

Keep us alert and continue Your work of purifying and restoring us
until the day when we see Him in His glory.

Until then, we will continue to join together with all of those before us who have lived in Him,
praying the prayer that He taught us, saying,

Our Father in heaven,hallowed be Your name,Your kingdom come,Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trialand deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yoursnow and for ever. Amen

Notes:

The readings for the week, on which this prayer is based, are:

Isaiah 64:1-9: Five of the six Old Testament readings from the beginning of Advent through Christmas Day in Year B come from Isaiah. This passage is part of a prayer for God's deliverance in 63:7-64:12, and begins with the petition that God would "tear open the heavens and come down."

Psalm 80:1-7,17-19: Part of a prayer to God which pleads for his intervention and rescue in the midst of circumstances which appear that God had forgotten his people. It includes the refrain, "Restore us...make your face shine on us, that we may be saved."

1 Corinthians 1:3-9: Part of Paul's opening greetings in this letter to the Christians in Corinth. In it, he blesses them, expresses thanks for them, and looks forward to Christ's return, saying that "you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Mark 13:24-37: The gospel readings for Year B focus on Mark, and the first two gospel readings in Advent come from this book. This passage is part of Mark's account of Jesus' teaching on the signs of the end of the age in the week between his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his arrest, death, and resurrection. In it, Jesus alludes to Daniel's prophecy and points to the day when his hearers would see "the Son of Man coming in clouds with great glory," and urges them to remain ready for that day, saying, "what I say to you I say to all: keep awake."

Your glory is on display all around us; may we have the eyes to see it.
May we have the ears to hear and hearts to receive Your word.
Your word is perfect, sure, right, clear, pure, never-ending, true, righteous,
more valuable than gold and sweeter than honey.
Your word revives our souls, grows us in wisdom,
makes our hearts rejoice and gives light to our eyes.
We need Your word more than anything else that anyone can give us.

In Your word, You have given us a way to live,
free from sin, and freed to fully love You and those around us.
Speak Your word to us, so that we may live.

We saw and heard this way of living most clearly
when You sent Your Word to be one of us
in the life of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus.
His ways were Your ways.
His life among us was more valuable than gold
and sweeter than honey,
and made the pursuit of everything except knowing Him
look like worthless garbage.

We want to know Him, the power of His resurrection,
and the sharing of His sufferings,
so that just as He lives, we also may live.

You sent Your Word, Your beloved Son, and we rejected Him,
yet He remains the foundation of all that is good in this world,
and it is amazing in our eyes.

Again today as those mercifully given the opportunity to be His students,
we pray the prayer that He taught us, saying

Our Father in heaven,hallowed be Your name,Your kingdom come,Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trialand deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yoursnow and for ever. Amen

Notes:

Depending on which system of ordering one pays attention to, this Sunday can also be referred to as Proper 22, or (in 2011) the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Regardless of the system, the readings are the same. So, the readings for this week, on which this prayer is based, are:

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20: The sixth of nine consecutive readings from Exodus. This passage contains the Ten Commandments, Israel's response (they were afraid, trembled, stood at a distance and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die"), and Moses' reply ("Do not be afraid...")

Psalm 19: Contains a reflection on the goodness of all of God's commandments (including the Ten Commandments), including "more are they to be desired than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb."

Philippians 3:4b-14: The third of four consecutive readings from Philippians. In this passage, Paul lists the items that could be considered to his benefit as "reasons to be confident in the flesh," but then points out that he considers them as rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus.

Matthew 21:33-46: All of the gospel readings after Pentecost in Year A come from Matthew. This passage is the second of nine consecutive readings containing Jesus’ teachings during the days of the week between his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Sunday) and his arrest (Thursday night). This passage is Jesus' parable of the wicket tenants, who first kill the landowner's servants, and then his son, and the chief priests and Pharisees realize that he was talking about them.

A very meaningful practice in my Christian life over the past several years has been beginning to learn and follow the Christian Year. This can mean varying things in different traditions, but the essence of it is shaping our lives, Scripture readings, and worship around an annual cycle primarily based on the events of Jesus' life. All Christians do this to varying degrees, at the minimum recognizing Christmas and Easter, or on the other end of the spectrum having a calendar full of feast days, fast days, and other things that may seem foreign even to many long-time Christians. Since I'm a United Methodist, we fall in the middle (as we almost always do). So my practice of following the Christian year mainly consists of observing the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter, along with the special days included in them, as well as following the readings of the Revised Common Lectionary. Doing so has been very meaningful to me, because it's taken me out of the driver's seat of my own spiritual journey ("So what do I feel like reading today?"), and has given me a very practical way of seeking to immerse the story of my life in the story of the life of Jesus. I've gotten enough of a taste of it that I want to go much further.

That's why I was eager to read [amazon_link id="0849946077" target="_blank" ]The Liturgical Year[/amazon_link] by Joan Chittister. It's part of The Ancient Practices Series, edited by Phyllis Tickle, whose guides for fixed-hour prayer (The Divine Hours series) have been very helpful to me and thousands of others. I'd also already read Scot McKnight's excellent book from the series, Fasting, so I was excited to explore another of the series' titles.

The book is 231 pages, but broken up into 33 very short and readable chapters. Chittister begins with some background information on the Christian Year (or, the Liturgical Year as is her preferred term), which she describes as "the spiraling adventure of the spiritual life." If you're from a tradition closer to the end of the spectrum that doesn't get very involved, for example, in observances of Lent or Advent, and only includes Christmas Day and Easter Day in your annual calendar (and possibly something on Good Friday), it would be enlightening to you to read these first chapters. If you're on the other end of the spectrum, the things you already do will become more meaningful. Chittister weaves historical background of the liturgical observances with her own reflections and provides a convincing case for how following this annual calendar helps us to continue living ever more fully into Jesus' story.

The introductory chapters are followed by a journey through the markers of the Christian year. Beginning with Advent, then going through Christmas and Epiphany, into Lent and Easter, with stretches of "Ordinary Time" in between the seasons, Chittister helps us to understand the origin of each of the observances, along with many of the worship rituals traditionally practiced with each one.

I read this book because I hoped that a greater understanding of each of these markers in our year would add depth to my practice of them, rather than- as I had done for so long- simply going along with the flow in my church and doing things but having no earthly idea why we did them. The book will help me to do so during the rest of my Christian years, and could do so for you as well.

A good example is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Even if you're not from a church that observes it, you've likely noticed people once each year who walk around with ashes on their foreheads. It's something that millions of Christians do, but where in the world did we get such a tradition, and why do millions continue to practice it?

Chittister explains that Ash Wednesday is:

an echo of the Hebrew Testament's ancient call to sackcloth and ashes [and] a continuing cry across the centuries that life is transient, that change is urgent. We don't have enough time to waste on nothingness. We need to repent our dillydallying on the road to God... We need to get back in touch with our souls. "Remember man that you are dust and unto dust you shall return," [we heard] as the ashes trickled down our foreheads. We hear now, as Jesus proclaimed in Galilee, "Turn away from sin and believe the good news" (Mark 1:15). Ash Wednesday confronts us with what we have become and prods us to do better. Indeed, Lent... is about opening our hearts one more time to the Word of God in the hope that, this time, hearing it anew, we might allow ourselves to become new as a result of it. (118-119)

For every point along the journey, she provides helpful background, reflections, and guidance so that her readers can enter more fully and meaningfully into joining two millennia of other Christians who have followed an annual cycle of remembering and celebrating the life of Jesus.

Being a Roman Catholic, her annual journey has quite a few more markers than mine does, but she helped in adding meaning to the days and seasons that are a part of the customs of my tradition as well as helping me to know the meaning behind practices of my siblings in other branches of our faith.

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We remember how You have worked to bring us to this point today.
You have been faithful to us in good times and bad,
just as you were to those who have gone before us
and to everyone who has ever looked to You.
Even at times when it has seemed that all hope was lost,
You have given us hope and life in abundance,
giving us the water we needed when all we could see
were rocks in the desert.

Lord, we will not forget Your faithfulness to us,
that it was You who brought us into life
and who has never left us alone in anything we have done.

When we forget You, we grumble,
worried about our own needs being met.
But when we remember You,
and even learn to think like You,
we realize there is a better way.
We can look to the interests of others rather than our own.
We can regard others as better than ourselves,
rather than acting out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

We can live the kind of life that we have seen lived
by Your Son, our Savior, Jesus,
who emptied Himself to be one of us
even though that led Him to the cross.
It is to His name that we kneel with our knees,
and that we confess as Lord with our tongues,
together with all of creation.

Help us to recognize the people and works in our world today
which resemble the way that Jesus lived and worked
among us so long ago.
And when we see them, help us to be quick to respond
obeying His command to love one another
and following His example of how that can be done.

It is as we continue to seek to learn to live our lives from Him,
as His disciples, that we again pray the prayer that He taught us, saying

Our Father in heaven,hallowed be Your name,Your kingdom come,Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trialand deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yoursnow and for ever. Amen

Notes:

Depending on which system of ordering one pays attention to, this Sunday can also be referred to as Proper 21, or (in 2011) the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Regardless of the system, the readings are the same. So, the readings for this week, on which this prayer is based, are:

Exodus 17:1-7: The fifth of nine consecutive readings from Exodus. In this passage, the Israelites are grumbling against Moses (and, by implication, against God) for bringing them out of Egypt into the desert "to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst." God then provides water for them to drink out of a rock.

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16: Part of a psalm that recounts God's saving acts toward Israel throughout history. This week's section remembers how God miraculously saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and how he guided and provided for them in the wilderness.

Philippians 2:1-13: The second of four consecutive readings from Philippians. In this classic passage, Paul encourages his readers to "let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus," and gives a description of what that meant for Jesus and what it can mean for the rest of us. The passage concludes with Paul's exhortation to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you..."

Matthew 21:23-32: All of the gospel readings after Pentecost in Year A come from Matthew. This passage is the first of nine consecutive readings containing Jesus' teachings during the days of the week between his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Sunday) and his arrest (Thursday night). Religious leaders try to trap Jesus with a question about his authority, and he responds by trapping them with a question about John the Baptist. He then tells a parable of two sons, one who does what his Father asked and one who doesn't, making the point that "the tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of heaven ahead of you.